Monday, October 18, 2010

WWE Week in Review: 10/11-10/17

-Lets start once again with the continuation of the John Cena in Nexus angle. I think it continued well this week, with Wade Barrett again being the star of the night. It's amazing how well Barrett has progressed in such little time.His ranting promo at the end of RAW was terrific. And adding the "You Can't See Me" at the end was great. Barrett must have really learned from his NXT rookie Chris Jericho. This week, Cena has to team with Randy Orton to take on Husky Harris and Michael McGillicutty. If Harris and McGillicutty win, they will be officialy inducted into the Nexus. I think this has to be the outcome. Nexus can't survive with just the four plus Cena. Harris and McGillicutty can fill the "muscle" role for the group. But once again, a strong continuation of the stroyline. It'll be interesting to see how long the WWE can keep this up, but as long as Barrett keeps performing well, it should continue to be good TV.

-C.M. Punk was officially moved to RAW last week. Like I said last week, I think it's a good move. Punk had nothing left for him on Smackdown, and a move to RAW gives him fresher opponents, including the possibility of a Daniel Bryan/Punk feud, which would be good for everyone watching. I also liked Punk's beatdown of Evan Bourne. Bourne had an injury and needed to be written off TV anyways, and this was the perfect way to do it. It gives Bourne, hopefuly, a feud to return to when he comes back. I also like it from Punk's perspective. It establishes him as a force on RAW. And do you know what the best part about it was? He didn't need to use the mic to get heat on him. That's why Punk is that good.

-Other then Cena/Nexus, the other main focus of RAW was establishing Team RAW for the Bragging Rights PPV. The team consists of Captain The Miz, Sheamus, R-Truth, C.M. Punk, John Morrison, Santino Marella, and a 7th person yet to be named. The Miz looked good in his match against Cena as he continues to grow into his role as a top heel. John Morrison continues to shine and looks destined for a main event push down the line. Sheamus and Daniel Bryan had a nice 5 minute match. I'd really like to see these two have a long feud down the line. They have two contrasting styles, but both worked well together in the ring. Bryan also recovered from his beatdown last week against Sheamus. R-Truth is over enough with the crowd to deserve his spot. C.M. Punk hates Smackdown, so that works. Santino is weird. He's also over, but doesn't really do that much. I actually thought Zack Ryder was going to win there, especially with his recent interactions with Edge. My guess is Mark Henry gets the last spot. He had to miss RAW this week do to a family emergency. Team RAW looks pretty decent.

-On the Smackdown side, the team consists of Captain Big Show "Insano", Rey Mysterio, Jack Swagger, Edge, Kofi Kingston, Alberto del Rio, and Tyler Reks. I don't think Reks stays on the team. He might get replaced again by the man he beat, Kaval. The best part about the Bragging Rights PPV is seeing how everyone interacts on each team. How will Mysterio & del Rio, and Swagger & Edge co-exist after their recent altercations? It's also nice to see former tag champs Miz and Big Show as opposing captains. The only thing I don't like about the qualifying matches is how every secondary champion in the company lost their qualifying match. The tag champs Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre lost to Rey Mysterio and Kofi Kingston, respectively. Intercontinental champ Dolph Ziggler lost to Edge, and United States champ Daniel Bryan lost to Sheamus. I know they were all going up against opponents who were better than them individually, but that doesn't say much about your secondary champions if they lose that easily. I think if you look at both teams from a talent perspective, you would give the advantage to Smackdown. They have more world championship reigns. RAW is more of an "up-and-coming" team.

-I think the WWE shouldn't be giving away Kane vs Undertaker in a "Buried Alive" match at Bragging Rights. I'm still of the opinion that the match should be saved for Survivor Series, considering it wll be the 20th anniversary of the Undertaker's debut. I don't know what they could have done for this PPV. Maybe give the Undertaker off, and have Kane be a part of team Smackdown? I just think a Buried Alive match should be the end of this feud. Maybe they could have had an Inferno Match? But WWE probably doesn't think setting someone on fire is PG. I don't think the feud ends at Bragging Rights. I think somehow it gets stretched to Survivor Series, maybe in a "Buried in Cement" match.

Other News & Notes:

-I can't believe two hot women can actually be so annoying that I have grown to hate them. That's what Michelle McCool and Layla have done. They're THAT annoying on the mic. Layla's British accent makes it that much worse.

-Apparently on NXT this week Goldust proposed to his rookie Aksana to keep her in the country. Like I said, it gives Goldust something to do. He deserves it for being a company guy the last few years. Plus it gives him someone to counter Maryse on the outside in his feud with Ted DiBiase Jr. I couldn't help but laugh though when Michael Cole said it was a bigger deal than Jim & Pam from The Office. A bit of a stretch there.

-Matt Hardy was finally officially released from the company. I don't know if it was just his way of trying to get released, but I think he might have actually just lost it. Just type in his name on YouTube and watch some of his videos. I think he's actually lost it. Even if he doe go to TNA, I don't think he'll do anything special. He's not that great in the ring or on the mic.

-Right before I started writing this blog I read that Tough Enough might be brought back to TV by USA Network. For those of you who don't know, Tough Enough was essentially WWE's version of reality TV. They'd take somehwere between 10-16 people and train them to become pro wrestlers. Once the season got further along, they'd vote one person out each week. It was similar to NXT, but it was more training and there were no storylines. I think it's a good idea. The first two seasons were good.

-Apparently, lower card wrestlers and rookies are being forced to attend mandatory promo classes taught by Vince McMahon. How I would love to sit in on one of those classes. I think there are better promo people working for WWE that could teach it, such as Arn Anderson and Dusty Rhodes, but it is Vince's company after all.

That's it this week. I'll be back either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning with my NFL Week 6 recap. Then between Friday and Saturday I'll post my Week 7 preview, and a preview of Bragging Rights. I'm also still working on my 50 Best and 50 Worst moments in wrestling history blog.